I can't remember her name, but I can still see her face and the fear in her eyes—and in the eyes of her family every time her cough triggered the alarm or she grimaced in obvious respiratory distress. She was on the ventilator—and much too young to be dying of breast cancer.
Dietetics class for nurses, 1918/Cornell University Library/via Flickr
By Christine Moffa, MSN, RN, clinical editor
While I was going through nursing school I imagined that our clinical rotations would prepare us for the reality of working in a hospital. I was very eager to graduate and get my first job. Had I known that I was in for the hardest year of my life, I probably would have changed majors. I was hired to work the night shift in the float pool of a children’s hospital. That is a bad idea right there and I wish someone was there to talk me out of it. But on top of that, I found it difficult to express by opinion when residents and nurses with more experience did not heed my concerns about patients who were decompensating. And calling the attending in the middle of the night did not seem like a good option. I wish I had been told in nursing school that the nurse supervisor is a great resource to go to in times like these.
We often hear stories of what a shock it is for a nurse to finally start a nursing job after finishing school. Is there anything nursing schools could do to change this? What do you wish you’d learned?
By Peggy McDaniel, BSN, RN
I recently read an article (“Time for ‘Dr. Next’?”) that focused on the differences between Baby Boomer physicians and Generation X physicians. The two groups apparently have a lot of angst about each other. While recognizing the younger doctors as collaborative and tech savvy, many older doctors express frustration with what they perceive to be less dedication to medicine. The younger physicians seek a healthier work–life balance, but the Baby Boomers remember putting in extremely long hours as students and also when starting their practices. Bringing these two groups together, often in the same practices, has highlighted their differences.
As it turns out, the same issues come between generations of nurses. This article from NurseWeek has some excellent advice and, although it’s from 2001, remains timely. It discusses different generational views about job security, technology, self-assertion, and other issues. One passage in particular jumped out at me:
Unlike many workaholic baby boomers who define themselves by what they do and how much they work, younger generations tend to see work as only a part of their lives. Generation X and Y nurses say the flexible hours and schedules of hospital nursing attracted them to the profession in the first place. To cope with the intensity of their jobs, they say, they need time to relax and pursue other interests.
If you’re a nurse manager and a member of the Baby Boomer generation, how do you deal […]
Mason told the conference that she was disappointed in the remark because “that’s not what nurses need.” Nurses need to be respected for what they know and for what they do, and then they need to be given a seat at the policy table when strategies for changing the health care system are being discussed.
Nurses, you’re being watched: a marketing Website has an article on the growing influence of nurses online. Let us know what you think. Here’s an excerpt:
. . . Manhattan Research recently released a report about nurses online noting that approximately three out of four U.S. nurses recommend health websites to patients. The study notes that the average nurse spends eight hours per week online for professional purposes, which is just as much time as physicians, and almost all of them use the Internet in between patient consultations. Nurses are also proactive in researching medical product information specifically online – over eighty percent have visited a pharma, biotech, or device company website in the past year.
In addition to the prevalence of the Internet as a research and patient communication tool, nurses are continuing to find their unique voices online through a growing number of prominent nursing blogs such as Codeblog and Emergiblog which both share powerful stories of healthcare from the nurses’ point of view.